Trump White House Warns “Consequences” For Senate RINOs Who Sink Confirmation Hearings

President Trump’s White House is adamant — no more close calls on nominations.

The warning has been sounded from the White House, from MAGA on social media, and from every Trump-supporter in between.

Any REPUBLICAN; that holds-up one second these CONFIRMATION HEARINGS, or VOTES against any of his choices without his approval must be remove from their seat and marked as RINOS.

— George L Ruggiere (@ruggiere_l) January 22, 2025

The slim margin by which Pete Hegseth passed through the gauntlet of Senate confirmation was enough to elicit the same warning from the White House that has been oft-repeated for months online.

No political games.  President Trump won a mandate, and he expects to spend that political capital on assurances that his nominees get confirmed.

Otherwise… Primaries are coming, and that may be a more serious threat than ever before judging from the current political climate among President Trump’s base.

Rinos who don't approve Trump's picks will be primaried.

You work for US. @SenateGOP

— 💓Nikki💓 (@Niknakgirl23) December 3, 2024

If the 2024 election put President Trump back in the White House, then his victory put his supporters back in the driver’s seat of the Republican party — and provided the initiative to expect results and not empty promises.

Not all RINOs seem to get that picture yet, but every indication is that they will come primary season if they push their luck.

🚨RINO ALERT🚨

SC: your career dissipation light, as they say, is flashing bright RED.

And we Americans who voted for the @realDonaldTrump agenda don't need any of your: pic.twitter.com/yd8dCkPXD5

— keith (@fuzzyphysics) January 23, 2025

The intensity of that pressure has not gone unnoticed, particularly since it basically acts as a rear-guard for the pressure coming directly from the White House.

A senior White House official went on record anonymously with a clear message and a warning, according to a report by NBC News:

The White House is seeking to send a message to reticent Senate Republicans to get on board with all of President Donald Trump’s nominees, warning of political consequences for those who defy him.

“It’s pass-fail. You either support everyone or you don’t,” a senior White House official told NBC News. “The Senate needs to advise and consent, not advise and adjust.”

The Republican-controlled Senate gave Trump a scare Friday when Pete Hegseth squeaked through by the slimmest possible margin, losing three GOP senators and requiring Vice President JD Vance to break the tie to confirm him as secretary of defense.

And there are more controversial nominees coming before committees this week, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary and Kash Patel for FBI director. All face a rocky path, and their hearings could be decisive.

“There is a very well-funded consortium of outside groups and political actors that are sophisticated, smart and tough. We’ve already seen that they’ve provided air support and narrative support to some nominees,” said the official, referring to allied groups close to, but not directly controlled by, the White House. “They’ll still be very well-funded when the nominations are over, and they’ll exact consequences, I’m sure, to those who do not support the president’s nominees and get them to the finish line.”

With that sort of danger in the water, RINOs are so worried they’re floating the idea of voting in hyper-secure SCIF’s with the vote tallies kept secret!

Charlie Kirk went live with that story a few hours ago.

To which Shawn Ryan asked the obvious question: What is there to hide?

What is there to hide? https://t.co/Tzqe82U3ML

— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyan762) January 28, 2025

I think the answer to Shawn Ryan’s question is simple.

RINO Republicans are attempting to hide that big sign that President Trump stuck on their backs that says, “PRIMARY ME”.

There is also the “RINO Removal Project”, likely one of those groups alluded to by the White House that may be helping to hand out CONSEQUENCES to those who earn them come Primary season.

With MAGA in Charge, New ‘RINO Removal Project’ Targets Sellout Republicans https://t.co/Cw2QRBLWUN

— Steven Pickard 🌵🇺🇸 𝕏 (@AZ_StevePickard) January 27, 2025

Leo the Lion as he’s known is seeking to get rid of the worst RINOS, thereby ridding the Republicans — and President Trump — of one of the worst dangers to the change President Trump wants to enact.

Those ‘Republicans’ who like the title but don’t vote the values are going to find themselves in a world of hurt, according to a report in Town Hall:

Leo the Lion, a MAGA America First voter, has started a new group to purge the Republican Party of sellout RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) in office. The RINO Removal Project (RRP), subtitled “RINOs Become the Politically Hunted,” is targeting some of the most detested sellouts in Congress.

Leo told me, “With Republicans now controlling the Presidency, the House, and Congress, this new movement has emerged as the driving force behind an explosive attempt to finally rid the government of one of America’s greatest threats: RINOs.” He said the goal of the movement is to eliminate Republican politicians from government who deviate from America First values and align themselves with the Democrats.

I explained in an article a couple of years ago why RINOs are RINOs — it mostly comes down to “follow the money,” not principles as they claim. Nonprofits and think tanks, media, and even Republican Party operations are often funded by quirky billionaires with their own agendas, usually tied to protecting their money. Instead of being honest and admitting they have a financial or personal interest affecting their viewpoint, they destroy the reputations and careers of others. Since I wrote that article, I’ve discovered another significant reason is sexual affairs — the left is increasingly blackmailing Republicans with revealing evidence of their illicit affairs. This has become especially prevalent with judges in recent years.

Between siding with Democrats and allowing those big donors to control their votes, RINOs who get the gumption to throw a wrench into President Trump’s nominees’ confirmation process might find themselves on the chopping block.

RFK Jr. is set for hearings this week leading up to his confirmation the head up Health and Human Services.

Meanwhile, Kash Patel is up for Director of the FBI and has an appointment with the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, according to a story in New York’s Channel 1 Spectrum News:

Roberty F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate and anti-vaccine crusader who backed Trump in November’s election, will kick off the week’s hearings in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning. Both the Finance Committee and the Health Committee oversee the Health and Human Services Department, which Kennedy has been tapped to lead. The Kennedy family scion and pariah will appear before the latter committee Thursday.

Kash Patel — Trump’s nominee for FBI director and a major advocate for wielding federal law enforcement against the president’s political enemies — will face members of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Those two may be the easier of the three big nominee hearings coming up.

Tulsi Gabbard is expected to be the one facing the most trouble and pushback from those RINOs, according to Channel 4 NBC affiliate in New York:

Gabbard is widely seen as the most endangered, due to concerns over her past dealings with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, with whom she had a secret meeting in 2017, and questions about her past opposition to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. individuals.

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“She’s where the balance of firepower is shifting, and she’s the one who has to do the most work for herself,” a senior White House official said. “She needs to emphasize that she knows how critical intelligence is, and this is a life or death matter.”

Steve Bannon is warning that Mitch McConnell is a likely problem, having already come close to sinking Hegseth’s confirmation.

He is “the major roadblock” for many of the upcoming nominations, according to a report by Raw Story:

Far-right podcast host Steve Bannon warned of a “ticking time bomb” in the U.S. Senate that could sink President-elect Donald Trump’s nominations.

On his Wednesday War Room podcast, Bannon blasted Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the major roadblock to the nominations of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (R-HI), former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The podcast host argued that the failed nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general was a blueprint for other nominees.

“The Matt’s Gaetz situation is a ticking time bomb because they, underMitch McConnell, understands he rolled us,” Bannon opined. “You think that’s the last time that Mitch McConnell’s going through on this?”

“This is war,” he continued. “We have to seize it now. The most important thing blocking us, the only thing blocking us, the only thing we haven’t gotten a victory and a win in, is the United States Senate.”

Bannon argued that McConnell would focus on derailing Gabbard, Hegseth or Kennedy.

There are quite a few Republicans up for re-election in 2026, and that number corresponds well with most of those GOP Senators currently at odds — or hinting that they might be — with President Trump’s nominee picks.

I can’t help but harken back to December, only a few weeks after the election.

At the time Sen. Tom Cotton was confident that all of President Trump’s nominees would be confirmed.

BREAKING: Senator Tom Cotton says ALL of President Trump’s nominees will be confirmed. pic.twitter.com/dWAK4jFJQi

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 9, 2024

If that doesn’t highlight the severe disparity between the RINO’s led by McConnell in the U.S. Senate right now, I don’t know what would.

It would be shocking — an historical anomaly — to have a Republican controlled Senate NOT vote in favor of a Republican President’s nominees.

Yet, that is exactly what we have seen, first with Matt Gaetz and almost with Pete Hegseth.

It remains to be seen just how clearly those RINOs see the threat that awaits them if they dare break ranks to that degree again, or whether the message from the White House has been received loud and clear.

Time will tell.  But I would expect some serious carnage during the next two Primary seasons if those Republicans don’t learn to act like Republicans, and fast.